BOSTON -- The Northeastern University baseball team (28-18, 17-7 CAA) returns to Friedman Diamond this weekend for a three-game CAA North Division series against Stony Brook (20-25, 12-12 CAA), with games scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday's games will air on NESN+ and stream on FloCollege, with Sunday's finale streaming exclusively on FloCollege. The series marks the second meeting between the two programs this season — the Huskies took the series 2-1 at Joe Nathan Field back in March — and Northeastern's final regular-season home series of the year.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
1. RECORD BREAKER: Harrison Feinberg continues to etch his name into the Northeastern record books — and he's not done yet. The redshirt senior outfielder broke the program's all-time career home run record earlier this season with his 43rd career blast, a solo shot off Boston College's Nathan O'Donnell that eclipsed a mark that had stood since 2009. He's since pushed the record to 45 career home runs, including 14 this season — highlighted by a three-homer, six-RBI eruption in the series finale against Maine on April 12th, his first career three-homer game. On the basepaths, Feinberg has been equally historic: he's set a new single-season program record with 38 stolen bases, surpassing his own mark of 37 set a year ago. He's now closing in on another piece of program history — Cam Maldonado's career stolen base record of 89 — and he's not the only one. Carmelo Musacchia leads the chase with 85 career stolen bases, just four away from the record, while Feinberg sits right behind him at 81, setting up a race between two of the most dynamic players in program history down the stretch. On the year, Feinberg is slashing .331/.440/.624 with 14 home runs and 54 RBI, and enters the weekend as the CAA Preseason Player of the Year, a D1Baseball Second-Team Preseason All-American, and a Golden Spikes Award Watch List selection.
2. ON THE RUN: Northeastern's baserunning has gone from aggressive to historic. The Huskies have officially taken sole possession of the national lead in stolen bases, surpassing VMI to sit atop all of Division I with 181 steals on the season. That total leads the CAA by a wide margin and continues a multi-year trend of elite baserunning under head coach Mike Glavine — the Huskies have ranked among the top five nationally in stolen bases in each of the last three seasons. Musacchia and Feinberg have been the engines of the running game all year, combining for 166 career stolen bases between them — both within striking distance of Maldonado's program record of 89. Charlie Criscola, AJ Aschettino, and Ryan Gerety have all been active on the bases as well, giving the Huskies one of the deepest baserunning lineups in the country. Northeastern swiped 11 bags in a single game at Brown back in March and has consistently pressured opponents on the basepaths all season long. With the national lead in hand and two players chasing the career record, the Huskies figure to keep the pressure on this weekend.
3. SCOUTING THE SEAWOLVES: This weekend's series is a rematch of the CAA-opening series from back in March, when Northeastern traveled to Joe Nathan Field and took two of three from Stony Brook to start conference play on the right foot. In that series, the Huskies opened with a 4-0 shutout on Friday behind a dominant start from Robbie O'Connor, then gutted out a 4-3 win in a 13-inning marathon on Saturday — a game that was suspended due to darkness and completed the following morning, with Ryan Griffin earning the victory. Stony Brook salvaged the finale on Sunday, 7-6, to avoid the sweep. After opening the year 1-9 against a brutal non-conference schedule that included road series at Arkansas State, Georgia Tech, and FIU, Stony Brook has found its footing — the Seawolves have won their previous two CAA series, taking down Monmouth and Towson, and ride a three-game non-conference winning streak into the weekend after victories over UMass Lowell (twice) and St. John's. The all-time series between the two programs — which dates back to their shared time in the America East Conference — tilts heavily in Northeastern's favor, and the Huskies will look to clinch the season series and pick up crucial wins in the CAA North standings with the postseason approaching.
